Do you remember when the back half of every Radio Shack was a component wonderland?
I was the Assistant Manager of a Radio Shack back in the early 80s while I was earning my EE degree.
I actually loved working there and became known as the go to guy for selecting components and half the time I would be drawing circuit diagrams to help customers.
Most of my employees didn't know squat about circuits and tried to just sell the big ticket items but I would end up selling dozens of $100+ tickets for resistors and IC components to very happy customers.
Those were some good times.
Those were good days to be an inquisitive kid. Back when electronics also had physical properties that you could inspect, measure and test. Todays electronics are nearly all a "magic box" where if it breaks you throw it away and buy a new one.